Speaking virtually to the ABA Washington Summit today, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) defended S. 2155, the bipartisan regulatory reform law. “This was not the cause of the failure” of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, Daines said, rebutting claims by some. Daines noted that the law was passed with the support of 67 senators, including his Democratic Montana colleague Jon Tester, who co-sponsored the bill.
Daines also expressed concern that the policy response to the liquidity disruption might “leave solid banks on the hooks for the regulatory failures and failures of management at these [failed] banks.”
As a lead sponsor in the last Congress of the ABA-backed SAFE Banking Act, which would facilitate the provision of banking services to marijuana-related businesses in states with legal cannabis, Daines urged Summit attendees to recruit their lawmakers as sponsors in the current Congress. “With each passing year, there’s a greater number of people who understand the problem,” he said, noting that the SAFE Banking Act “is a public safety bill. . . . It’s not about cannabis, it’s about safety and the crime that is exploding in our communities.”
